The "post your random gaming thoughts here" thread.

I love Hotline Miami. I've had to convince myself to stop playing it though as the hardlocks continue (always after a fast death/restart). If I hit reset on my computer right away, it'll reset, but if I let it go for a few seconds, only a 5 second power button restart will work. Oh well, a lot of people can't get past the opening screen without it crashing.

Steam Big Picture mode also crashed all the time on me (just the interface, not games), so I turned off steam beta. But regular steam has spent about 5 hours this morning thrashing my hard drive over games I already have downloaded, using about 10% cpu.

I have been playing through Alan Wake and Max Payne 3 recently, and I have noticed a lot of similarities. I know that Remedy did not make Max Payne 3, but if you told me they had and I didn't know better, I would believe you.Also, is just me, or does the character Alan wake look a bit like Max Payne before he gained a ton of weight and shaved his head?

I installed it a few weeks ago It seemed to be spectator only, and I had no idea what was going on. I signed up for the beta, and I just got that a few days ago. Still no idea what's goin' on. I haven't tried playing it though. I fear the learning curve.

So is it F2P, or did Valve just carpet-bomb everyone with invites to give out?

The later. It is technically still invite only, but they've given out epic shittons of invites, and then most accounts (not mine for some reason ) also got friend invites to send out, and those also occasionally get friend invites. Basically the only reason it's still invite only is so they have a smoother ramp up of server/playerbase. There is an in-game item that is a friend invite that you can have someone buy and gift you though, if you're that desperate to play.

So is it F2P, or did Valve just carpet-bomb everyone with invites to give out?

The later. It is technically still invite only, but they've given out epic shittons of invites, and then most accounts (not mine for some reason ) also got friend invites to send out, and those also occasionally get friend invites. Basically the only reason it's still invite only is so they have a smoother ramp up of server/playerbase. There is an in-game item that is a friend invite that you can have someone buy and gift you though, if you're that desperate to play.

Oh, I personally am not (I have the game, too). No, I was curious how almost my entire friends list got it. Among the 5 people on my friends list that don't have DOTA2, two of them haven't logged on to Steam in over 18 months (and one of those two is AlphaMeridian )

Plus, as some people are finding out, it seems to be difficult to find people to invite anymore.

Basically the only reason it's still invite only is so they have a smoother ramp up of server/playerbase.

I guess the feeling of invite-only "exclusivity" doesn't hurt, either.

Iron Clad Burrito wrote:

No, I was curious how almost my entire friends list got it. Among the 5 people on my friends list that don't have DOTA2, two of them haven't logged on to Steam in over 18 months (and one of those two is AlphaMeridian )

Apparently, they count the spectator client - available to everyone - as "Dota 2". Steam tells me that I "own Dota 2" - but I surely didn't get (and didn't ask for) any invites.

Just finished up a playthrough of Prototype 2. Played it on Normal, did all of the missions and all of the random content. Took me ~12 hours to complete. Also got 72% of the achievements from one playthrough. I'll try to keep any actual spoilers out of this, and relate it purely to gameplay. PT2 = Prototype 2, PT1 = Prototype. Warning: Incoming wall of text.

It was .... simpler than PT1. You start off with about half of the skills that you had to earn in PT1. You can equip 2 skills [plus block, which is no longer a separate skill] at once in PT2, while you could only do one at a time in PT1 [IIRC]. Most minion-level baddies are fairly easy [you have a skill that gives you complete invulnerability to small-arms fire [read: everything not explosive or vehicle-mounted]. Most boss fights are fairly easy, once you figure out the timing. They mostly have 1-2 modes of attack, and you typically have QT-events where you can dodge/block. Additionally, bosses' "normal" attacks are easy to counter with the shield once you get your timing down. I beat several bosses without taking any damage [I actually came fairly close to this on the final boss]. Movement is perhaps a bit simplified as well from PT1. It's not broken, by any means, but in the "collect all items within X time" type missions, I never had any issues beating them on the first try, where some of the similar ones in PT1 were quite difficult. The fighting [and specifically executing/consuming] animations are pretty much identical to PT1. I imagine many of them were literally the same code. Some of them didn't really work very well in PT2, while in PT1 they were pretty much flawless. The enemies in general are a bit more malevolent. In PT1, you were fighting against a government agency trying to kill you, and also the infection trying to eat everything. In PT2, it's a bit more indirect, which IMO gives both enemy factions a bit more teeth. Face it, if there's some biological infection taking over NYC and turning everybody into zombies, not everything is cut-and-dry. Infiltrating enemy strongholds is also incredibly easier in PT2. You now have a "hunt" ability, which you can use to track down high-priority targets or see who is unwatched when infiltrating [so you can stealth-consume them]. Hunting is fun, and adds a bit of a dynamic that wasn't in PT1. Military weapons are not too hard to use, but usually less effective than your other abilities. There are a few missions where you have to stay disguised, though, so you have to use them [leading to funny images like this; the associated dialog was also funny]. The dialog in general was pretty good, though disjointed at times. Also Sabrina Galloway was kind of hot, but definitely very creepy/crazy. There's no context-related spotting. You cannot be identified as an enemy unless you actually attack somebody or have your weapons visible. For example, you can run [while in soldier/scientist/civilian disguise] at 100+ km/h past a truck full of soldiers, and it'll only note that you're visible [yellow warning, where red is spotted/enemy]. Similarly, you can jump off tall buildings, and land <5m from an enemy soldier, and it will only notify you that you are now visible. Doing things that are completely outside the normal for humans does not trigger any type of alerts, despite that these are supposed to be the best soldiers, who are on high-alert at all times. They just do not care at all unless you attack them. There are some weapon discrepancies, too. Some weapons are incredibly powerful, while others are all-but-useless [I suppose this happens in most games, but it's fairly pronounced here]. I used 2-3 weapons the entire game [claws+whipfist, though hammerfist is probably the most fun weapon]. The shield makes fighting soooo much easier. Baddies get stuck in walls sometimes. Still no multiplayer.

Pros:

Open world is great

Movement is fluid and fun

Story is probably better

Hunting is fun

Graphics are fluid and sharp

Dialog is usually good

Cons:

Combat is simplified

Bosses are easy

No multiplayer

Infiltration is extremely easy

Animations are a little bit worse

Can't target most enemies on the ground while in flight [it auto-targets sometimes, but usually not who you were aiming for]

No context-related spotting

Some weapons are absolutely too powerful

Minor annoyance: unskippable ads on load [you have to hit enter twice to confirm that the game is going to periodically save, and then it plays the Activision/etc logo videos

Spoiler: show

Also, the game pretty much ended without any conclusion whatsoever. You beat the final boss, develop some new ability which apparently scours the city of all infected/evolved tissue, hug your daughter, and then roll credits.

In general, if you liked PT1, you'll probably like PT2. It's worth the $10-15 IMO. I can answer more specific questions if anybody has them.

$10 at GMG, steam activation. A little bit tempted. I enjoyed the hell out of the Return of the King game on the GCN but that was when the genre (beat'em ups with elaborate set-pieces) and consoles were pretty fresh experiences for me.

I picked it up to play co-op with two friends. It's a fun action RPG. It doesn't come from the heritage of the movie tie-in beat 'em ups; as a Snowblind game, it's descended from Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath. Unlike those games, though, it's third person over the shoulder.

I read there were a lot of bugs before buying it, and we did encounter a few crashes along the way, but nothing that hindered our progress beyond just restarting and setting up the game lobby again.

We're currently on our second playthrough and still having fun with it.

It appears the PS1-eraTombRaidergames have been released on Steam. $9.99 each is a bit steep (especially considering Anniversary, Legend and Underworld are the same price. Still, I'll be happy to be able to pick up The Last Revelation and maybe 1 and 2 during a sale.

Angel of Darkness is on there too, but I'm not certain if it was already on Steam or not. It's Angel of Darkness though.

So after the fail that is Far Cry 2 enemy respawns and checkpoints, I went out looking for any mods. There was one guy on the Steam forums who said he made a bunch of changes, including respawn times, but it required downloading a patch.exe file from a Fileshare...no thanks. However, the main one that looks to be out there is 'Dylan's Realism mod.' It sounds pretty good from the description (other than making you take more damage too), and reduces the likelihood enemies will chase from checkpoints. Anyone use this mod and have any opinion on it?

This is standard practice for a lot of mods for (shitty) games that don't really support mods at the core, mechanical level. If you are not down with such things, play more mod-friendly games.

Then I guess I'll just play more mod friendly games. I don't have a problem with it per se, for instance, with Dylan's mod, it's posted on major modding/gaming website with many downloads and ratings, etc. The file, more or less appears to have been vetted, with random .exe posted in forum, to dinky fileshare site, wait 30 sec to download, play "Where's Waldo Download Button" to find the actual button to download the file...yeah, I'll just pass.

Sequel to Planescape: Torment in pre-planning stages. They're not going to bother with the Planescape part of it in order to keep them from having to answer to WotC but I don't think that will particularly be a problem. Torment didn't really make use of the mechanics of the AD&D license in a particularly interesting way (in fact, the class system seemed like it was more of a crutch than a blessing). I'm definitely going to keep my eye on this.

Sequel to Planescape: Torment in pre-planning stages. They're not going to bother with the Planescape part of it in order to keep them from having to answer to WotC but I don't think that will particularly be a problem. Torment didn't really make use of the mechanics of the AD&D license in a particularly interesting way (in fact, the class system seemed like it was more of a crutch than a blessing). I'm definitely going to keep my eye on this.

As I posted in the article comments, the PS:T news makes no damn sense. inXile JUST started PE, which by all indications already was the true spiritual successor to PS:T and BG2. I don't even see how TNO's story can continue. It ended perfectly; epic saga over, the end. Right now they need to be focusing on making the best cRPG ever made, not focusing on ALSO making a sequel to the former best cRPG ever made at the same goddamn time.

Mind you, all that is disregarding the issues with licensing the Planescape setting. Without that, it's not like it'll be anything more than a spiritual successor anyway, full stop.

It isn't even clear who would be making this. Colin McComb is just a writer and not directly affiliated with any given dev as far as I'm aware, though I understand he's currently working with inXile and Obsidian on Wasteland 2.

As I posted in the article comments, the PS:T news makes no damn sense. inXile JUST started PE, which by all indications already was the true spiritual successor to PS:T and BG2. I don't even see how TNO's story can continue. It ended perfectly; epic saga over, the end. Right now they need to be focusing on making the best cRPG ever made, not focusing on ALSO making a sequel to the former best cRPG ever made at the same goddamn time.

Mind you, all that is disregarding the issues with licensing the Planescape setting. Without that, it's not like it'll be anything more than a spiritual successor anyway, full stop.

It isn't even clear who would be making this. Colin McComb is just a writer and not directly affiliated with any given dev as far as I'm aware, though I understand he's currently working with inXile and Obsidian on Wasteland 2.

Dear Mr. McComb:

Spoiler: show

M. Jakal,

While I agree with the substance of your argument, the facts you have presented aren't accurate.

InXile is working on Wasteland 2, which has a stated finish date of Oct 2013. Obsidian is working on Project Eternity and, as you stated, has just begun production and is likely more than a year-and-a-half out.

It is unknown to what extent these two companies might collaborate on a Torment sequel, or indeed what the individuals within each company are actually working on for their respective game. Considering that InXile should have the majority of their workers finished and in need of a new project in about 10 months' time it probably is the right time to begin making plans for what that new project will be. Especially considering that in an ideal world there will be collaboration between the individuals within the two companies who all worked on PS:T in order to make the game the best it can be.

Now, maybe marketing has researched this stuff thoroughly and arrived at the conclusion that they need to cram every box art full of fire, explosions, big guns and angry space marines because that will move copies 1.743% better than another kind of box art. If so, I won't fault them for doing their job. But I do have to wonder: couldn't they at least do something more striking with those elements? Look at Doom II's box art, which was all about big guns - it's much more dynamic and exciting than this hobo who can't afford to launder his clothes and appears too weak to even hold a small shotgun properly.

What I'd like to see is some graphically striking, evocative, surprising stuff. Preferably, like the best movie posters. But even the average movie cover has far better use of (empty) space and composition. Couldn't games at least reach that? Couldn't they hire the same people who make the average movie covers?

As I posted in the article comments, the PS:T news makes no damn sense. inXile JUST started PE, which by all indications already was the true spiritual successor to PS:T and BG2. I don't even see how TNO's story can continue. It ended perfectly; epic saga over, the end.

While I agree with you that The Nameless One's story is essentially done, there's an old saying - where one door closes, another opens. And has anyone said clearly that Nameless was going to be the protagonist of the new one?

Isn't it usual practice these days to start with a human model when designing your important characters in your game? Like how there are real world models for your team in Mass Effect 2?

Cause if Anna Moleva (Ormeli, said Russian young lady) was deemed a better face for Elizabeth than Elizabeth's model... damn. Talk about a blow to your ego.

I think it's not necessarily a "better" face, but a different skill set and a different representation. The in-game Elizabeth still looks, talks and moves the same, right? What Anna will be doing is public representation of the in-game Elizabeth - and that's a different skill set.

And the in-game Elizabeth doesn't look realistic, anyway, so even if they started with a human model, it doesn't mean much.

While I agree with the substance of your argument, the facts you have presented aren't accurate.

InXile is working on Wasteland 2, which has a stated finish date of Oct 2013. Obsidian is working on Project Eternity and, as you stated, has just begun production and is likely more than a year-and-a-half out.

It is unknown to what extent these two companies might collaborate on a Torment sequel, or indeed what the individuals within each company are actually working on for their respective game. Considering that InXile should have the majority of their workers finished and in need of a new project in about 10 months' time it probably is the right time to begin making plans for what that new project will be. Especially considering that in an ideal world there will be collaboration between the individuals within the two companies who all worked on PS:T in order to make the game the best it can be.

An excellent rebuttal, sir. I'm not intimately familiar with the nature of developmental timelines. It seems you have a much better perspective on these matters. If it is as you say it is, I have only positive things to say about this development.

Well, Fallout 3 check in. I'm at what must be 120 hours and at level 30. I've visited every minor point of interest on the map except for one that I simply couldn't get into without cheating. I also completed the final original game quest last night, and have only Broken Steel left.

I have to say,

Spoiler: show

I loved Liberty Prime and thought that the final mission with it was a brilliant payoff and capstone for the game. "Democracy is non-negotiable." The part at the water facility where you sacrifice yourself (if a good character) was a little silly, but the march there was pure gold.

Is that Vault 87? The one that is surrounded by high levels of radiation? If so it's totally accessible, you just have to have a lot of Rad-X and Rad-Away and pop them like pills. I made the run once, when I realized that I never used the Rad-X and Rad-Away simply as a way to get rid of some of them.